Big Jack lives on forever as man of iron!

The death of Jack Charlton last weekend has stirred the memories of a nation as the Englishman’s tenure as Irish soccer manager was relived and celebrated by a whole generation of soccer fans.

His visits to the west were frequent – often for football, but equally for fishing – and he endeared himself to his fans, whether he met them at the Galway Races, the Clarinbridge Oyster Festival or at the launch of his biography.

That – and the joy the Boys in Green gave to a generation – explained the wave of sadness that enveloped the country last weekend, at his passing at the age of 85.

But at Farrell’s Garage in Woodquay in Galway City, ‘Big Jack’ lives on; because he has been keeping a close eye on things for over 20 years now, in the guise of a sculpture created by brothers Gay and Patsy Farrell at the height of soccer mania in the mid-90s.

“The whole country was on a high at that time. We made it while they World Cup was on in USA in 1994,” recalls Gay, a well-known mechanic who has earned a name for himself as a talented sculptor.

“While everyone else was out drinking and roaring ‘give it lash Jack’, we decided to do something positive with our time,” laughs Gay, adding “neither of us actually drink so we had to do something”.

Using empty oil drums and their welding talents, the men created a “slightly bigger than lifesize” sculpture of a giant of international soccer, with an uncanny likeness for the man who made a generation feel that Ireland being champions of the world was not beyond the realms of possibility.

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